Japan keen on participating in India's infrastructure growth story: Arun Jaitley
Jaitley is on a six-day visit to Japan where he's already met Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, and is expected to meet the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe on Monday.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank and a number of investors of Japan, have shown a keen interest in investing in India's infrastructure growth story.Jaitley said this in Tokyo on Sunday, as he kicked off his six-day visit to Japan aimed at attracting investments from Asia;s second biggest economy.After a meeting with Jaitley, SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said he was also interested in Internet companies as well as solar energy sector, where he has already announced $20 billion investment through a joint venture.In June last year, the SoftBank had announced that the group was forming a joint venture to invest in renewable energy in India.The joint venture would aim to generate 20 gigawatts of electricity. Jaitley said they have made considerable headway and have identified location and it would probably be one of the largest investments in the energy sector.The Finance Minister will meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday at the 22nd International Conference on 'The Future of Asia' organised by Nikkei Inc.He will also deliver keynote address at the round table on National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, NIIF.The 40,000-crore rupees NIIF is an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable greenfield, brown-field and stalled projects.The government will have 49% holding in the NIIF and the rest will be of private investors.During his stay, Jaitley is scheduled to meet several key investors. The Finance Minister will return to the Delhi on Saturday.